ROME (ITALY)
Australian Broadcasting Company
May 9, 2019
Pope Francis introduced sweeping changes in Catholic Church law on Thursday local time to hold bishops accountable for sexual abuse or covering it up, making reporting obligatory for clerics and allowing anyone to complain directly to the Vatican if needed.
Key points:
The new rules cover the abuse of adults, as well as children, by clergy
The changes allow retroactive reporting and sets time limits on investigations
Those who report abuse can no longer be ordered to stay silent under new rules
The papal decree, which covers abuse of both children and adults, also obliges every Catholic diocese in the world to set up simple and accessible reporting systems and encourages local churches to involve lay experts in investigations.
The decree is the second such papal provision since a summit on abuse by senior Church bishops at the Vatican in February and comes after the Church was rocked in March by news of the conviction on charges of sex abuse of Australian cardinal George Pell, the highest-ranked Vatican official to be convicted.
It’s the latest effort by Pope Francis to respond to the global eruption of the sex abuse and cover-up scandal that has devastated the credibility of the Catholic hierarchy and his own papacy.
And it provides a new legal framework for US bishops to use as they prepare to adopt accountability measures next month to respond to the scandal there.
“We have said for years that priests must conform to certain strict rules, so why shouldn’t bishops and others in the hierarchy do the same?” said Cardinal Marc Ouellet, head of the Vatican office for bishops. “It’s not just a law, but a profound responsibility.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.